Judgment

KHANNA, J. :- During the general elections held in March 1972 five candidates, namely, the appellant and respondents Nos.1 to 4, contested the election for the Jammu and Kashmir State Legislative Assembly from Rajpura constituency. There was a sixth candidate, namely, Mohamed Abdullah Sheikh, respondent No. 5, but his nomination paper was rejected. The appellant secured 9.079 votes and was declared elected. Respondent No. 1 was the nearest rival and he secured 8,248 votes, respondents 2 to 4 secured 1,340, 1,126 and 1,217 votes respectively. 2034 votes were declared invalid at the time of counting. After the declaration of the result of the election, respondent No. 1 field election petition out of which the present appeal arises. Two prayers were made in the election petition : (1) that the election of the appellant be declared to be void, and (2) that respondent No. 1 be declared to have been duly elected. The High Court accepted the first prayer and declared the election of the appellant to be void. The second prayer that respondent No. 1 be declared to have been duly elected was not granted. The present appeal has been filed by the appellant against the judgement of the